Project description:Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) are a promising platform for cardiac studies in vitro, and possibly for tissue repair in humans. However, hiPSC-CM cells tend to retain morphology, metabolism, patterns of gene expression, and electrophysiology similar to that of embryonic cardiomyocytes. We grew hiPSC-CM in patterned islands of different sizes and shapes, and measured the effect of island geometry on action potential waveform and calcium dynamics using optical recordings of voltage and calcium from 970 islands of different sizes. hiPSC-CM in larger islands showed electrical and calcium dynamics indicative of greater functional maturity. We then compared transcriptional signatures of the small and large islands against a developmental time course of cardiac differentiation. Although island size had little effect on expression of most genes whose levels differed between hiPSC-CM and adult primary CM, we identified a subset of genes for which island size drove the majority (58%) of the changes associated with functional maturation. Finally, we patterned hiPSC-CM on islands with a variety of shapes to probe the relative contributions of soluble factors, electrical coupling, and direct cell-cell contacts to the functional maturation. Collectively, our data show that optical electrophysiology is a powerful tool for assaying hiPSC-CM maturation, and that island size powerfully drives activation of a subset of genes involved in cardiac maturation.
Project description:Background: Island populations repeatedly evolve extreme body sizes, but the genomic basis of this morphological pattern remains largely unknown. To understand how organisms on islands evolve gigantism, we compared genome-wide patterns of gene expression in Gough Island mice, the largest wild house mice in the world, and mice from the WSB/EiJ wild-derived inbred strain. In a highly replicated experiment, we used RNASeq to quantify differences in gene expression in three key metabolic organs: gonadal adipose depot, hypothalamus, and liver. Results: We discovered pervasive evidence of transcriptional evolution, with 20% or more of differentially regulated transcripts in each organ exhibiting expression fold changes of at least 2X. By considering differential expression jointly with the genomic positions of quantitative trait loci for body size and single nucleotide differences located within established tissue-specific regulatory elements, we nominated 66 candidate genes for extreme size evolution, including Irs1 and Lrp1. Patterns of differential expression across three developmental time points in the liver revealed that Arid5b potentially regulates tens of co-regulated gene groups. Functional enrichment analyses on thousands of differentially expressed genes pointed to cell cycling, mitochondrial function, signaling pathways, immune reactivity, and nutrient metabolism as potential causes of weight accumulation in Gough Island mice. Conclusion: Collectively, our results suggest that extensive regulatory evolution in metabolic organs contributed to the rapid evolution of gigantism during the short time house mice have inhabited Gough Island.
Project description:The Lundehund is an old dog breed with remarkable anatomical features including polydactyly in all four limbs and extraordinary flexibility of the spine. We genotyped 28 Lundehund using the canine Illumina high density beadchip to estimate the effective population size (Ne) and inbreeding coefficients as well as to identify potential regions of positive selection. The decay of linkage disequilibrium was slow with r2=0.95 in 50 kb distance. The last 7-200 generations ago, Ne was at 10-13. An increase of Ne was noted in the very recent generations with a peak value of 19 for Ne at generation 4. The FROH estimated for 50-, 65- and 358-SNP windows were 0.87, 087 and 0.81, respectively. The most likely estimates for FROH after removing identical-by-state segments due to linkage disequilibria were at 0.80-0.81. The extreme loss of heterozygosity has been accumulated through continued inbreeding over 200 generations within a probably closed population with a small effective population size. The mean inbreeding coefficient based on pedigree data for the last 11 generations (FPed=0.10) was strongly biased downwards due to the unknown coancestry of the founders in this pedigree data. The long-range haplotype test identified regions with genes involved in processes of immunity, olfaction, woundhealing and neuronal development as potential targets of selection. The genes QSOX2, BMPR1B and PRRX2 as well as MYOM1 are candidates for selection on the Lundehund characteristics small body size, increased number of digits per paw and extraordinary mobility, respectively. The objectives of the present study were to genotype 28 Lundehund using the canine Illumina high density beadchip (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA) to estimate the effective population size (Ne) from data on linkage disequilibria (LD). We identified runs of homozygosity (ROH) as regions with a local loss of genetic variation. Inbreeding coefficients were calculated on the basis of pedigree data (FPed) and genotype information (FROH, FIS) to compare the results of these different methods for this population. We applied the long-range haplotype test to search for potential selective sweeps.
Project description:When evolution leads to differences in body size, organs generally scale along. A well-known example of the tight relationship between organ and body size is the scaling of mammalian molar teeth. To investigate how teeth scale during development and evolution, we compared mouse and rat molar development from initiation through final size. Whereas the linear dimensions of the rat first lower molar are twice that of the mouse molar, their shapes are largely the same. We found that scaling of the molars starts early, and that the rat molar is patterned equally as fast but in a larger size than the mouse molar. Using transcriptomics, we discovered that a known regulator of body size, insulin-like growth factor 1 (Igf1), is more highly expressed in the rat molars compared to the mouse molars. Ex vivo and in vivo mouse models demonstrated that modulation of the IGF pathway reproduces several aspects of the observed scaling process. Furthermore, analysis of IGF1-treated mouse molars and computational modeling indicate that IGF signalling scales teeth by simultaneously inhibiting the cusp patterning programme and by enhancing growth, thereby providing a relatively simple mechanism for scaling teeth during development and evolution. Finally, comparative data from shrews to elephants suggest that this scaling of patterning mechanism regulates the minimum tooth size possible, as well as the patterning potential of large teeth.
Project description:The Lundehund is an old dog breed with remarkable anatomical features including polydactyly in all four limbs and extraordinary flexibility of the spine. We genotyped 28 Lundehund using the canine Illumina high density beadchip to estimate the effective population size (Ne) and inbreeding coefficients as well as to identify potential regions of positive selection. The decay of linkage disequilibrium was slow with r2=0.95 in 50 kb distance. The last 7-200 generations ago, Ne was at 10-13. An increase of Ne was noted in the very recent generations with a peak value of 19 for Ne at generation 4. The FROH estimated for 50-, 65- and 358-SNP windows were 0.87, 087 and 0.81, respectively. The most likely estimates for FROH after removing identical-by-state segments due to linkage disequilibria were at 0.80-0.81. The extreme loss of heterozygosity has been accumulated through continued inbreeding over 200 generations within a probably closed population with a small effective population size. The mean inbreeding coefficient based on pedigree data for the last 11 generations (FPed=0.10) was strongly biased downwards due to the unknown coancestry of the founders in this pedigree data. The long-range haplotype test identified regions with genes involved in processes of immunity, olfaction, woundhealing and neuronal development as potential targets of selection. The genes QSOX2, BMPR1B and PRRX2 as well as MYOM1 are candidates for selection on the Lundehund characteristics small body size, increased number of digits per paw and extraordinary mobility, respectively.